Tanvi notches upset win; Kashyap, Srikanth out

Young Tanvi Lad put up a brilliant show to stun higher-ranked Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland on a mixed opening day for India during which top shuttlers K Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap bowed out of men's singles in the USD 250,000 Japan Open Super Series, here today.
World No 59 Tanvi recovered from a game down to edge out the 18th ranked Gilmour 13-21 21-11 21-17 in a match that lasted for more than an hour.
She is the only Indian in women's singles as top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu took a break after a hectic Uber Cup campaign.

The 21-year-old Tanvi, who reached her maiden international final in Switzerland last year, will next take on Liu Xin (F), who won the China Masters Grand Prix Gold in April this year.
Young Sourabh Varma also played out of his skin to see off Hong Kong's Nan Wei 19-21 21-14 22-20 and will next face the winner of the match between fourth seed Kenichi Tago of Japan and Korea's Dong Keun Lee.
In women's doubles Commonwealth Games gold-medallists Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa defeated Japan's Ayane Kurihara and Naru Shinoya 21-18 21-16 to enter the second round.

Jwala and Ashwini will now be up against sixth-seeded Koreans Kyung Eun Jung and Na Kim.

The mixed doubles pair of Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponnappa too reached the second round after beating Germany's Peter Kaesbauer and Isabel Herttrich 18-21 21-18 21-17 in a 53-minute match.
However, it was a shocking exit for top players Srikanth and Kashyap.
While Germany's Marc Zwiebler avenged his Thomas Cup loss against Srikanth with a 18-21 21-13 21-8 win, Kashyap was done in by world number 116 Riichi Takeshita 21-15 23-25 18-21 in a men's singles match that lasted for one hour and 18 minutes.
Later, RMV Gurusaidutt lost 10-21 21-15 13-21 to Japan's Takuma Ueda after a gruelling battle which lasted more than an hour.